The ''Express & Star'' is a regional evening newspaper in Britain. Founded in 1889, it is based in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

, England, and covers the

West Midlands county West Midlands is a metropolitan county in the West Midlands Region, England, with a 2021 population of 2,919,600, making it the second most populous county in England after Greater London. It was created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1 ...

and

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. Currently edited by Martin Wright, the ''Express & Star'' publishes six editions a week between Monday and Saturday. In 2007 the newspaper had a daily circulation of 174,989 by June 2014 it was 73,473, then 55,373 in 2016, 38,690 in 2019 and by 2021 was 19,683. In 2022 figures from JICREG (Joint industry Currency for Regional Media Research) show that 17,973 papers are printed each day and there are 51,403 readers. Online expressandstar.com has 1.64 million monthly unique users with 8.9 million monthly page views. The Express & Star features a mixture of regional and national news and has a strong following for its sports coverage of

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, particularly local teams

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

, and

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

. The ''Express & Star'' is one of the few independent newspapers still operating in the UK, having been under the continuous ownership of the Graham family almost since its inception. It is owned by the

Midland News Association Midland News Association (also known as MNA Media) is Britain’s largest independent regional news company. It publishes the UK's biggest-selling regional daily newspaper the ''Express & Star'' and its sister title the ''Shropshire Star'', as ...

(MNA), which also owns the ''

Shropshire Star The ''Shropshire Star'' is reputedly the twelfth biggest-selling regional newspaper in the UK. It is based at Grosvenor House, Telford where it covers the whole of Shropshire plus parts of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Cheshire a ...

'' newspaper. In January 2013 editor Adrian Faber announced his decision to step down after 11 years at the ''Express & Star''. He was replaced by ''Shropshire Star'' editor Keith Harrison in April 2013, who remained at the helm until leaving the newspaper late in 2018. Harrison was replaced by ''Shropshire Star'' editor Martin Wright, who became Midland News Association editor-in-chief, editing both the ''Express & Star'' and ''Shropshire Star''

History

The origins of the ''Express & Star'' lie in the ''Evening Star'' – a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

newspaper founded in Wolverhampton in 1880 as a rival to the existing

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

''Evening Express'', itself founded in 1874. In 1882 the ''Star'' was bought by wealthy Scottish-American philanthropist

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

, encouraged by his friend and fellow

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...

-born liberal (and by then prominent Wolverhampton councillor) Thomas Graham. The combination of Carnegie's finance and Graham's organisational ability saw the paper flourish and within two years the ''Star'' had taken over the ''Express'' under the editorship of another Dunfermline native, editor Andrew Meikle. The combined newspaper adopted its current name in 1889. Carnegie severed his links with the paper and its parent company the

in 1902, leaving Graham in full control until his death in 1909. The following decades saw a steady expansion under Graham's descendants, with the paper's influence spreading out from its native Wolverhampton to cover the entire Black Country. An office in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

was opened and later closed, although a Birmingham edition is still produced from Wolverhampton. The 21st century saw a drop in circulation and advertising revenues, in common with most other newspapers, leading to the company shedding around 50 jobs through a voluntary redundancy scheme in April 2006, with further cuts announced in January 2007. Printing plants in

West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ) is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is north-west of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area known as the Black Country, in terms of geography, ...

, Wolverhampton and Ketley, Telford were closed in 2009, 2011 and 2021. Now the Express & Star is printed by Newsquest at their Deeside office. In April 2011 the ''Express & Star'' introduced paid-for access to selected online content – including photo galleries, football match analysis and traffic and travel – under the banner of ''Express & Star 24''. A print, online and smartphone package was offered for £2.34 a week, which included delivery of the newspaper. However, the paywall was scrapped after just nine months. The digital edition of the Express & Star was re-launched in 2021 and allows readers to access news, sport and analysis on their mobile or tablet.

Online media

The ''Express & Star'' publishes breaking news and sport content online each day, in addition to regular blogs and unique video content. Its websit
expressandstar.com
was launched in 1997. It is the fastest growing website among the leading regional publishers, with 1.64 million monthly unique users and 8.9 million monthly page views. August 2012 saw the website re-launched in a responsive web design alongside its sister titl
shropshirestar.com
– believed to be the first of any other regional newspaper websites in the UK. An ''Express & Star'' App for

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...

and iPhone was launched in January 2012, using page-turning technology to mimic the look and feel of the actual newspaper. Further apps for Android and

Kindle Fire The Amazon Fire, formerly called the Kindle Fire, is a line of tablet computers developed by Amazon. Built with Quanta Computer, the Kindle Fire was first released in November 2011, featuring a color 7-inch multi-touch display with IPS techn ...

were released in February 2013. The website also offers free access to the weekly ''Chronicle'' series.

Leveson Inquiry

On 20 March 2012 ''Express & Star'' former editor Adrian Faber appeared as a witness at the

Leveson Inquiry The Leveson Inquiry was a judicial public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal, chaired by Lord Justice Leveson, who was appointed in July 2011. A series of ...

into Press standards. He told the inquiry that regional newspapers are different from national titles, relying far more on trust. Mr Faber said the ''Express & Star'' had never hacked a mobile phone, never paid a public official for a story and saw trust as integral to its role.

Awards

The ''Express & Star'' was awarded ''Midland Newspaper of the Year'' in 2012 by the

Midlands Media Awards Birmingham Press Club is a press club based in the English city of Birmingham. Established in 1865, just six years after Concordia Press Club in Vienna, became the second oldest organisation of its type in the world. The club hosts a number of p ...

. The ''Express & Star'' was awarded ''Daily/Sunday newspaper of the year (above 25,000)'' at the Regional Press Awards for 2013.

Editors

* Martin Wright (2018–present) * Keith Harrison (2013–2018) * Adrian Faber (2002–2013) * Warren Wilson (1995–2002) * Keith Parker (1977–1995) * Mark Kersen (?-?) * Clement Jones (1960–1970) * Andrew Meikle (1885–1922)

Notable former contributors

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

did work experience at the ''Express & Star'' when he was a trainee journalist on ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' in the 1980s. * Broadcaster

Sybil Ruscoe Sybil Ruscoe (born 8th August 1960, Shropshire, England) is a British radio and television presenter. Ruscoe was born in Wem, Shropshire, and began her career on the ''Express & Star'' newspaper in Wolverhampton. She then moved to Radio Wyver ...

began her reporting career at the ''Express & Star''. *

Jeremy Clarkson Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English broadcaster, journalist, game show host and writer who specialises in Driving, motoring. He is best known for the motoring programmes ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear'' an ...

wrote for the Express & Star as well as its sister paper the

, which he says launched his career as a motoring columnist.

Editions

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...

and Stone *

Sandwell Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. According to Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, t ...

Dudley Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...

and

Wyre Forest __NOTOC__ Wyre Forest is a large, semi-natural (partially unmanaged) woodland and forest measuring which straddles the borders of Worcestershire and Shropshire, England. Knowles Mill, a former corn mill owned by the National Trust, lies wi ...

*City (

) *A weekly ''Express & Star'' edition in Kidderminster was launched in October 2012 to replace the ''Kidderminster Chronicle''.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Express and Star 1889 establishments in England Daily newspapers published in the United Kingdom Mass media in Wolverhampton Newspapers published in the West Midlands (county) Newspapers established in 1889